Later that day, Kylie and Ethan met up for lunch. Kylie was still feeling angry but, when he pulled her into his arms to hug her, she allowed it and even went as far as to give him a peck on the lips. She had decided that she was going to let him off the hook for throwing her shoes into the sewer, but she would not make it easy on him. Furthermore, her wet core still hurt from the cold cream he"d applied to it, and she definitely wanted to hold him accountable for that.As she pulled away, he tried to hold her and give her a kiss, but she would not allow him. "I am not ready for this," she said coldly.
Ethan frowned and said, "If you don"t let me, then I won"t talk to you. Furthermore, I will spread malicious rumors about you!"
"Fine," Kylie snorted. "See if I care. No one will take your word over mine. It doesn"t have to be this way, though. All I am asking is for you to respect my boundaries, and to not speak to me in such a malicious manner."
Kylie suddenly noticed that Ethan had something in his hand that he was trying to conceal. "What do you have there?" she asked.
Ethan nervously met her eyes as he slowly opened his hand to reveal a box of birth control pills. Kylie"s eyes furrowed as she read the box: "Yasmin 28."
Ethan took Kylie"s hand and tried to press the contraceptive into her hands. "I am not trying to pressure you into having s.e.x right away," he told her, "but I do think we should be prepared for when we do. Last night, we had unprotected s.e.x, not once, but twice, and neither one of us gave a second thought to the possibility of you getting pregnant. Even now, you might be, but I highly doubt it. Somebody once told me that you couldn"t get pregnant the first time."
Kylie took the medicine and asked him, "If you cared so much about me, as you said you do, why didn"t you wear a condom last night?"
"I wasn"t thinking," Ethan replied lamely. "I wasn"t expecting it to happen, and then I was lost in the moment just as much as you were. After all, a woman is just as responsible as a man is."
After lunch, Faith helped Kylie to move out of the Toprak Mansion. Although she didn"t know why Kylie was moving out, she didn"t ask any questions. Her luggage was moved to the Merlin Villa, and then they went to the opening ceremony to meet Lucas. When they arrived, she was surprised to see that Laurence was there also.
In front of everyone, Laurence approached Kylie and confronted her. "You promised not hurt Khloe," he scolded her, "but you caused her to have a miscarriage. Are you a monster? I am sorry about what happened to your mother, but you had no right to take it out on Khloe!"
Kylie looked at him, coldly. "How exactly," she wondered, "are you sorry about what happened to my mother?"
Laurence didn"t know what to say, so he frowned and said, "It"s not a good time to talk about this right now. This is your speech. At the very least, you should say some pleasant words on her behalf."
Khloe scowled but said nothing.
"You know," Laurence said, "if Khloe makes it to the Oscars this year, it will be good for all of us. Garcia Entertainment needs it…"
"After everything that happened to my mother," Kylie scowled, "are you trying to tell me that I still owe some loyalty to Garcia Entertainment and to the pigs that run it; yourself and Khloe included?"
"Kylie!" Laurence snapped. "You are twisting my words. Stop thinking about yourself sometimes. Your sister is in the hospital. Is it too much to ask you to do something nice for her?"
At this, Kylie laughed and walked away from her father. Once she was gone, he turned to Lucas and said,
"Watch her. If she does something wrong, stop her."
"Yes, sir," Lucas nodded.
The opening ceremony started at eight, and all of the attendees were famous stars in the entertainment industry. Kylie, as the lead actress, was to appear last, but she was not wearing a gorgeous dress. Before anything started, though, she had autographs to sign and pictures to pose for. She was a little bit nervous, but Faith comforted her by saying, "Don"t be afraid. I will stay with you."
Kylie nodded. She would not be afraid. Today was the first day that she would begin her official battle and scheme to overthrow Khloe and Garcia Entertainment.
"I"m ready," Kylie said as she strode over to the table that had been set up for her.
The location of the event was not big, and there were less than one hundred journalists in attendance. Kylie knew it would be broadcast live and that almost everyone in the world would be watching her; of course, she felt nervous, but she felt empowered. For the first time in her life, she felt that the words that came out of her mouth could, potentially, change the course of history.
The host introduced Kylie and, when she walked on stage, the media was bemused. Once they got over their shock, though, they began to take as many pictures as they could, as fast as they could. Normally, when an actress or actor took the stage, they were wearing the best suits or dresses that money could buy. Often they were one of a kind and had been designed especially for them. What Kylie was wearing, though, was completely different and not at all what they"d expected.
All around the world, jaws dropped, nearly to the floor. People gasped, while other people chuckled and began to gossip about her. As for the designers in attendance, they looked at each other and said, "She should have come to us if she needed help…"